FOR almost as long as he can remember, gamekeeper Gwilym Jones has been managing estates, organising shoots and dressing birds.

Dad William Jones was a gamekeeper, and brother John also joined the family trade on the Llangynog estate, near Llanrhaeadr YM, Powys.

For the past 34 years he has been based at Glasfryn, near Pwllheli, where he still prepares and dresses all the estate’s game.

“It is labour-intensive, but we have a machine which dry plucks the birds,” said Gwilym, 62.

“I can usually do around 20 birds-an-hour, whereas by hand you’d perhaps do one every 20 minutes or so.”

Three decades ago, when businessman Harold Roberts gave up his shooting syndicate on the estate, Gwilym was installed as manager of Glasfryn’s new commercial shoot.

Not long after he began dressing and preparing oven-ready birds for the guns, a forerunner practice of today’s revival in game meat.

“Before then, not many of the guns would eat the birds – some would simply throw them in the heather because it was too much hassle to prepare them,” he said.

“I began doing it for them and several would buy two or three extra birds because they enjoyed the taste.”

This November the Countryside Alliance has launched its inaugural Game to Eat month. Consumers are being encouraged to “Go Wild with British Game”, with a number of butchers, pubs and restaurants offering game-themed menus.

North Wales outlets signed up to the venture include the Glasfryn estate. The estate shop has already built a reputation for its game – all suppled by Gwilym – and on Wednesday, November 14, it is hosting a “game evening” during which chefs will demonstrate a succession of game dishes (see panel).

Game-to-Eat director Alexia Robinson said the campaign was one of the Alliance’s “greatest success stories”.

She said: “It continues to spread the word about game meat’s health benefits and local credentials.

It is also tempting more people to see it as an alternative to the traditional beef, pork or chicken.”

Although much of Glasfryn’s game is now sold through its own shop, it is also offered to local outlets. Stockists include the Spar in Pwllheli, OG Owen butchers in Caernarfon and the Poachers restaurant, Criccieth.

The latter offers “Glasfryn Mallard” and rabbit sourced from the estate.

“Customers for game are, in the majority, older people,” said Gwilym.

“But at places like the Poachers there is increasingly a younger clientele who are discovering game.

“The market for rabbit almost disappeared after the outbreak of Myxomatosis disease, but it too is becoming really quite popular again.”

The 3,000-acre Glasfryn estate rents additional land for shooting from neighbouring farms. As almost half is wooded, pheasant is the main quarry, and typically Gwilym will breed, raise and 8,000-10,000 birds each year.

Some 2,000 Mallard ducks are also released annually. Bought as six-week- old chicks from Oswestry, they find a home on the estate’s 13.5-acre lake or the numerous ponds which have been dug for them.

Ironically, as the market for game grows, the number of guns has declined: this year Gwilym hatched just 6,000 pheasants.

“It’s the recession,” he said. “People aren’t spending on shooting like they used to do. We cater for the middle bracket, and they’re the ones who are feeling the pinch.”

Still, Glasfryn has organised a dozen big shooting days this year, and 20 smaller events. As ever, Gwilym dresses the downed birds and Wendy, his wife, prepares a game meal for the guns.

He added: “I’m now aged 62, and I’ve been doing this since leaving school at 17. If I can do another couple of years, that’ll do me.”